Fitness and Nutrition App 8fit Leverages Braze to Promote User Workout Streaks

With gyms closed or operating at reduced capacity due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and group classes difficult to pull off in a socially distanced world, those looking for a way to maintain their physical well-being at home are increasingly turning to their computers and mobile devices for guidance, new exercises, and the kind of tailored workout experience that used to be the sole purview of high-end clubs with juice bars attached. Of course, access to information is only one half of the equation. Equally important is the motivation to get up and put in the work, which can be hard to come by thanks to the lethargy bred by too many hours on the couch and the availability of streaming content that’s not going to watch themselves. As many trainers will tell you, it’s not getting someone to sign up to a fitness program that’s a challenge; it’s getting them to keep coming back.

Berlin-based health and fitness app 8fit knows all too well how important consistency and continued effort is to their users’ wellness journey. They also know that increased and repeated user engagement is good for the health of their business, deepening the relationship between the app and its audience and leading to an increase in their paid subscriber base. Their strategy? Gamify the promotion of audience engagement through the use of a “streaks” mechanic. In Braze, they found a solution that made promoting user workout streaks across multiple channels a lighter lift.

8fit Users Stay on Target With Streaks

The idea behind 8fit’s streaks is fairly straightforward: User activity is tracked, and personalized promotional messaging encourages individual users to chain together consecutive classes. Badges and awards are applied to incentivize extending a streak, and users at risk of having a streak broken are encouraged to not break the chain by taking part in at least one class a week. 8fit also wanted to leverage this dynamic to promote the conversion of free users to paid subscribers by offering free trial classes as an incentive.

Collecting data on usage and streaks is one thing, but taking action on that data in a promotional campaign is another. 8fit sought to leverage push notifications, email, and in-app messaging (IAM) simultaneously. They needed a platform that would allow them to craft a campaign through those channels that would respect each individual user’s place in their particular fitness journey, utilizing dynamic personalization without creating a heavy load on their dev team. Fortunately, Braze was there with a spot right when they needed it.

Braze Liquid Personalization Does the Heavy Lifting for 8fit

Having a good personalization strategy is only half the battle; having the technology to implement it without jumping through a bunch of logistical hoops is equally critical. Fortunately, Braze has a solution for that in the form of Liquid. An open-source templating language originally created by Shopify, Liquid allows brands to easily populate a recipients’ personal details, once they’ve been collected and collated, into emails, mobile push notifications, and other forms of messaging through the use of simple lines of code known as liquid tags.

With Liquid, 8fit was able to tailor the messaging each user would receive based on their personal workout record, but the brand took things a step further by incorporating Decision Split Steps into their Canvas. Utilizing this tool, they could segment users into those who had kept a streak going and those who hadn’t, sending out different messaging campaigns depending on whether their goal was to congratulate the user and encourage further participation, or nudge those who had lapsed to pick things up, again.

8fit Flexes Gains With Personalized Promotion

Anyone who’s ever worked with a fitness trainer knows that having someone to work with who crafts their coaching to your particular preferences is a much different experience than trying to make things work with a one-size-fits-all approach. The same can be said for promotional campaigns, and the results that came with 8fit’s effort to promote the maintenance of streaks demonstrate just how effective this kind of cross-channel personalization can be.

Thanks to their streak approach and the campaign behind it, the brand saw significant increases in engagement and conversion metrics across the board. Weekly class views went up by 40%, with a corresponding 17% increase in weekly class completions. What’s more, conversions of free users to paid users rose to 13%, driving a measurable impact on the bottom line. All of this was accomplished without requiring the significant dev resources that would come with manually crafting separate, personalized messaging campaigns, making it possible for 8fit’s engineering team to instead focus on core features.

Final Thoughts

Sticking to a fitness regimen is easier when one works with the right partner, and by personalizing promotion of its streak approach, 8fit showed itself to be just the home gym buddy its users needed. Thanks to Braze, they were able to do it all without taxing internal resources while increasing their conversion metrics.

For more on how to effectively implement personalization, get pumped up with the Braze Personalization Guide.

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